Article#201120: Making of “Rubber” Shoes, Part 4: Thermal Vacuum
Thermal Vacuum Transfer…
With any industrial manufacturing, machinery is key. Thermal vacuum transferring is no exception. Compare to water based transferring, thermal vacuum requires thermal vacuum machinery to apply graphics from film onto shoes. Thermal vacuum technology is not the most advanced comparing to laser or 3D printing, but comparing to water based transferring it is certainly a huge step up minus the water waste. Instead of using the natural force of water, thermal vacuum is a machine designed to use combine force of heat and pressure of air. Thermal vacuum transferring can also apply graphics to a specific area of a shoe surface instead of the entire surface of a shoe. The below two shoes only have partial graphics applied to certain areas. This is achievable through masking taping unwanted areas before thermal vacuuming.
Below four videos explain the entire process of thermal vacuum transferring graphics from films to shoes.
🔝1/4. For the purpose of better understanding taping off unwanted areas, factory worker was kind enough to show me this process. Yes, this process is all manual operated, which is one reason partial graphics on a shoe is not recommended.
🔝2/4. Instead of spraying lacquer thinner onto films in the water based transferring method, lacquer thinner is applied directly to shoes. In this case it is applied using a brush. I am not sure if during a standard production line this is applied using spray gun, which is much efficient.
🔝3/4. Before shoes are placed into a thermal vacuum machine, a costing of lacquer thinner has to be dried through a heated tunnel. Then shoes are placed onto a flatform where graphic films are loaded on top. After thermal vacuum action took place, human hands are required to rubdown and press out air bubbles, which I am not certain if this step is absolutely required during production. After releasing graphics are being transferred onto shoes.
🔝4/4. After shoes being released from thermal vacuum machine, they are put into a heated “oven” tube. This is to ensure graphics are permanently transferred onto shoe.
